the power of the industrial union of employees to make an agreement was continued. Each agreement would be binding on the parties and on every person while remaining a member of the contracting trade-union or branch. Under the industrial arbitration act, 1912, the agreement may be enforced in the same manner as an award; its maximum duration is fixed at five years, as against three years under the previous enactments. Otherwise, conditions relating to agreements were not altered materially.

Following is a statement of the number of agreements filed in each year since 1902:

AGREEMENTS FILED IN EACH YEAR, 1902 TO 1905.

The noticeable increase in the number of industrial agreements made between 1905 and 1913 as compared with previous years reflects the measure of encouragement afforded to voluntary collective bargaining.

In December, 1913, 65 agreements were in force, to which 38 unions had been contracting parties.

MINIMUM WAGE FIXED BY PARLIAMENT.

The minimum wage act, 1908, which is consolidated with the factories and shops act, 1912, provided that the minimum wage should be not less than 4s. (97.3 cents) per week in respect of any person employed in preparing or manufacturing any article for trade or sale, or in any factory under the factories and shops act, or working at any handicraft; or any shop assistant as defined by the early closing act. Provisions apply also to overtime, nightwork, and the payment of premiums for employment.

Contraventions or breaches of the act or of the regulations are reported to the minister for labor and industry by inspectors, and proceedings may be instituted with the authority of the minister. During the year 1910 26 informations were laid in this connection; 11 cases resulted in convictions, 7 were withdrawn on payment of costs; 7 were withdrawn in view of other convictions against the particular employers, and 1 case only was dismissed. In 1911 only two informations were laid, both in Newcastle, and both resulting in convictions, while in 1912 only one information was laid, resulting in a Sydney employer being fined.

The provisions as to the minimum wage are in operation over the whole State.

They are observed carefully throughout the districts subject to inspectorial supervision as to factories and shops, though in many large country towns outside these areas, and not ordinarily included in the inspector's itinerary, infringements may occur, particularly in

dressmaking and millinery establishments, the breaches being attributed mainly to ignorance. Overtime is classified under two heads, viz, by the week of 48 hours, and also, on any working day, after 6 p. m., when tea money is payable. Many clothing factories complete the week's work in five days, and all work done on Saturday is actually overtime. A case being submitted, it was held, on appeal to the high court, that tea money is payable only in the instance when work is done on any day after 6 p. m.

The minimum-wage system has tended to destroy systems of nightwork for women, carried on really in violation of the international agreement entered into by Great Britain.

The reasons which led to the enactment of the minimum wage act of 1908 in New South Wales are explained in the report of the Department of Labor and Industry for the year 1908. The report says:

That

At the end of the year the minimum wage act was passed, providing for a weekly wage of not less than 4s. (97 cents) to all persons coming within the definition of "workman" or "shop assistant." such a measure was necessary is evidenced by the fact that in the workrooms in the metropolitan district no less than 514 girls whose ages ranged from 13 to 21 years were, at the end of 1908, in receipt of less than 4s. (97 cents) a week, and in the Newcastle district there were 272 girls employed in the dressmaking and millinery workrooms receiving less than 4s. (97 cents) a week, the majority being paid no wages at all for their services.

in

A very broad and comprehensive definition is given to the terms "employer" and "workmen," and the minimum wage act also applies to any person coming within the definition of "shop assistant" terms of the early closing act. * * * The payment of a premium or bonus on behalf of employees in connection with the manufacture of articles of clothing or wearing apparel is prohibited. The system of so-called apprenticeship without payment originally carried with it the recognition of an obligation to teach the trade, especially in the dressmaking and millinery industry. This aspect of the case had, to a very great extent, been forgotten in the large workrooms, the training received for some time being more that of general discipline than of a technical character. With a minimum wage of 4s. (97 cents), an employer will find it worth while to teach her employees so as to bring in a return, in work, for the outlay as speedily as possible, and she will probably not so readily discharge a girl whom she has trained for six months in her own ways unless she gives a great deal of trouble. Having so improved their hands, the employers will, I think, prefer to pay a shilling or two extra a week rather than be continually changing and taking on inexperienced hands at the minimum wage. It is, of course, to be expected that a number of hands who were tolerated merely because they cost nothing in wages will no longer be allowed to crowd the ranks of certain trades, as no employer will now keep a girl who does not exhibit a reasonable aptitude for her work, but this should tend to improve the trade as a whole.1

1 New South Wales Department of Labour and Industry. Report on the working of the factories and shops act; early closing acts; shearers' accommodat on act, etc., during the year 1908. Sydney, 1909, p. 14.

82843°-Bull. 167-15—10

The report issued a year later shows the results attending the operation of the act in the following statement:

This act, which applies to the whole of the State of New South Wales, came into operation at the beginning of the year, and a large amount of inspection has been carried out with a view to the enforcement of same. The anticipations of the department regarding this measure have to a great extent been realized, as there has been a marked reduction in the amount of overtime worked, especially in cases of the younger girls. The payment of 6d. (12 cents) tea money and a minimum overtime rate of 3d. (6 cents) an hour have had the desired effect, and overtime is now almost limited to the older or more competent hands. At the end of 1908 there were between 500 and 600 girls whose ages ranged from 13 to 21 years employed in the workrooms of the metropolitan district, and nearly 200 in the Newcastle district, in receipt of less than the minimum wage of 4s. (97 cents) a week, the majority of whom were being paid no wages at all for their services. These figures are irrespective of a large number who were similarly employed by the numerous small dressmakers and milliners, whose workrooms do not come within the definition of factory. It is safe to say that, from the statistics for 1909, not a single boy or girl is at the present time being employed in any factory in the metropolitan, Newcastle, Broken Hill, Hartley, Goulburn, and Albury districts in receipt of a weekly wage of less than 4s. (97 cents). It is satisfactory to report that very little difficulty was experienced in securing a ready compliance with the act in the large majority of factories and workrooms in the metropolitan district, but there was some opposition on the part of the small suburban dressmaker or milliner, who objected to both teach and pay beginners, no doubt overlooking the fact that a girl should require to know very little to be worth at least a penny an hour to her employer 1

1

BASIS OF THE WAGES FIXED.

Since 1908 the number of trades in which wages are regulated by awards has extended so rapidly that but few occupations remain without the jurisdiction of industrial tribunals. The principle running through the awards of boards, etc., is the stipulation of an adequate living wage, and the minimum adult wage ranges between 8s. and 9s. ($1.95 and $2.19) per day for any class of labor. The question of the cost of living enters into the determination of a living wage, and judgments and awards tend more and more to embody all the factors determining effective wages, rather than to compromise between the standards of employer and employee.

Because of the fact that it used the cost of living as the basis for its wage awards, and because the information available to guide it was regarded as inadequate, the court of industrial arbitration, New South Wales, in October, 1913, initiated an inquiry into the cost of

1 New South Wales Department of Labour and Industry. Report on the working of the factories and shops act; early closing acts; shearers' accommodation act, etc., during the year 1909. Sydney, 1910, p. 11.

living and living wage. The court, as the result of its inquiry, delivered its judgment on February 16, 1914.1 The attitude of the court in regard to the basis used in its awards and its conclusions upon its inquiry may be seen best by quotations from the original judgment.

Upon the question of what consideration should be given to the industry in case it appeared unable to pay a living wage, the court said:

If the standard of that family and of others whose conditions were referred to was the average standard of their industries, and if it appeared clearly that those industries could not continue if they had to pay a wage which would raise that standard, ought these industries to be swept away? Certainly, if they could not give a fair living

wage.

The court's reasoning and conclusions in considering and fixing the minimum wage are indicated in the following quotations:

He

To make the lowest wage always the living wage would be to debar the manual worker, who in the immense majority of cases must remain a manual worker all his life, from any possible improvements in his conditions. His wage might go up or down, but only in strict agreement with the increase or diminution of his expenses, so that really it would be always the same. Is this fair? I do not think so. should have his share in prosperous times. He is still contributing the same share toward the work of the community. Where the result of that work is fortunate, and everybody benefits, why should he not benefit also? True, his share is humble; ambition, backed up with natural aptitude and a resolute will, is the main cause of the progress of the community, and, amongst other things, of its advance in wealth; and manual labor is, as such, the instrument of the men so endowed. But it is an indispensable instrument, and it is supplied by human beings and free citizens, whose share in the general life of the community is great and important, and for whose welfare indeed, in common with that of everybody else, the community life exists at all. I think they should, in good times, get more than a living wage. I consider that I am justified in acting on this view, because it is what happens when there are no courts of arbitration, and I am sure that these were not intended to deprive the worker of his natural advantages. Indeed, it might be put another way: It might be said that as prosperity increases the standard of living rises and carries the living wage with it. This would be true, but I do not think it is well to call what may be a mere temporary change, which may last for only a few years, a change of standard. To my mind, that expression should be limited to change of a more fixed and permanent character, such as become generally accepted as necessary conditions; such, for instance, as the adoption of footwear, both boots and stockings, a change not yet, I think, quite universal in the case of children. This is very different from the changes wrought by a wave of prosperity, and to my mind (though I can understand others taking a different view) it is better to keep the two things

1 New South Wales Industrial Gazette, Vol. V, No. 1, March, 1914, pp. 100 to 149.

separate, and to have the true living wage in sight even when one departs from it. I entered upon this investigation with a practical end in view; to fix a wage which might assist boards and save time. and expense. I doubt whether the mere fixing of the strict living wage will, of itself, do this to a sufficient extent. Being of opinion that more than a living wage should be given, I ought to say how much. This I now do after much thought and with a great sense of responsibility. I suggest to the boards that the minimum wage in Sydney for unskilled workers should be, for light work, 8s. 6d. ($2.07) per day, for ordinary work 8s. 9d. ($2.13) per day, and for heavy work 9s. ($2.19) per day.

This is in the metropolis; as to the country parts, it is evident to me that the living wage itself is much less than in Sydney, and, therefore, the minimum wage should also be less. Unfortunately, according to Mr. Knibbs's tables, and in fact, the cost of living varies in different parts of the country; * * * The evidence in this inquiry related mainly to the city, and even that which came from the country was not such as to enable me to distinguish between one part and another. I think, therefore, that I can do nothing at present as to the country. I have been strongly inclined to fix a minimum laborer's wage there, the rents in the metropolis being so much higher than in country towns, but on the whole I fear I have not enough material to justify me in this; it might be too low or too high; and general rate for the country might not suit the variances between the different parts.

a

As to existing awards, in any case in which a wage of less than £2 8s. ($11.68) is prescribed, application may be made to the board to increase it to that amount. I do not wish to appear in any way to dictate to the boards, which are quite independent bodies, and, moreover, circumstances may vary, but in my opinion now that a living wage has been declared, no one should get less. This refers, of course, only to those getting less than that wage; not to the rest of the award.

AGED, INFIRM, OR SLOW WORKERS.1

Applications for variations from award rates were made, under the industrial disputes act, 1908, and its amendments, to the registrar of the industrial court, and to any tribunal which might be constituted for the purpose by an industrial board.

Under the industrial arbitration act, 1912, the registrar alone has power to determine when and how such variations shall be permitted. For the year ending December 31, 1913, 485 applications were lodged for permits to pay less than award rates; 355 were granted and 130 refused. The number of permits canceled was 6, and 65 applications for permits were withdrawn or not proceeded with.

COST OF INDUSTRIAL BOARDS.2

The boards constituted from the commencement of the industrial arbitration act, 1912, to June 30, 1914, numbered 227, but of that number 16 were for various reasons dissolved before the date last

1 Official Year Book of New South Wales, 1913, p. 931.

2 New South Wales Industrial Gazette, Vol. VI, No. 4, p. 1328 and p. 1353.